Lippo Group Says Meikarta Progressing on Schedule
Jakarta. The Lippo Group, a diversified Indonesian conglomerate, has given assurances that work on its flagship property project, Meikarta in Cikarang, West Java, is progressing on schedule.
Samsul Hidayat, director of corporate valuation at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), said the bourse has met with Lippo Karawaci, the company responsible for the Meikarta project, to clarify the development’s progress.
"[The contractors] are all still working. The development is still progressing. But of course, they will take time off during the Idul Fitri holiday, just like any other projects," Meikarta president director Ketut Budi Widjaja said after the meeting at the IDX in Jakarta on Thursday (07/06).
The government has decided that this year's Idul Fitri holiday will fall on June 11-20.
Lippo Group chief executive James Riady said earlier that the developer is building 92 apartment towers simultaneously, 18 of which will be ready between December this year and February next year.
The company held a topping-off ceremony – common in Indonesia to mark the completion of the top floor at tall buildings – of two Meikarta apartment towers last year.
Most of the towers have already reached five floors, said Chen Chaojin, a representative of one of the contractors, China State Construction Energetic Corporation (CSCEC). He added that the company is committed to completing the project "quickly, with good quality."
The Lippo Group envisions Meikarta as a new economic center in the Jakarta-Bandung corridor. The densely populated region accommodates many manufacturing and service facilities, which account for some 60 percent of the national economy.
An estimated 15 million people are expected to flock to the region over the next 20 years to take up employment opportunities.
Lippo Cikarang, the listed subsidiary of Lippo Karawaci, said that it booked Rp 1.96 trillion ($140 million) in marketing sales, or sales of property that is on progress to be completed, from the Meikarta project in the first quarter of this year.
The company expects up to Rp 10.5 trillion in marketing sales this year from Meikarta, compared with Rp 7.8 trillion last year, Lippo Cikarang director Hong Kah Jin said on Tuesday.
The central government also recognizes the economic potential of the corridor, having made infrastructure investments into several megaprojects, including the Rp 65 trillion Jakarta-Bandung fast train and the Rp 40 trillion Patimban Port in Subang, West Java.
The government is also developing a monorail track and elevated toll road that will connect Meikarta and surrounding areas with the Jakarta city center.
The new township will also have a direct link to the newly opened Kertajati International Airport in Majalengka district, West Java, which functions as a buffer to help ease air traffic at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten.
The new airport offers flights to Indonesia's major cities, including Surabaya in East Java, Makassar in South Sulawesi and Medan in North Sumatra.
The Jakarta Globe is affiliated with the Lippo Group.
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